If left to the number-crunchers, the Rock & Worship Roadshow would never have made it past year one. The Christian rock tour -- which comes to the Save Mart Center on Sunday -- defies the logic of conventional tour promotions. It crams nine bands into a single night, with tickets (capped at $10 each) only available on site on the day of the show.

In its five years, the tour has somehow not only survived, but thrived, drawing huge crowds in cities across the country. In Fresno, it has been the highest attended concert for two years running, out-drawing the likes of AC/DC and Dave Matthews. Last year, 12,594 people came out to see the show.

This year's lineup includes tour founders Mercy Me, plus Jeremy Camp, Tedashii, Kutless, Family Force 5, Luminate, Adam Cappa, the Rhett Walker Band and Tim Timmons.

In advance of the show, The Bee talked with Mercy Me bassist Nathan Cochran.

How did the Roadshow come about?

It was a kind of grand experiment, I guess you could say, doing a $10 general admission ticket. We realized that some people simply can't come to shows because of the ticket price. We wanted to do something about that. We had done a tour that had a $10 ticket model before, so we thought we could come, mainly to the West Coast, and give it a try. And it's been going great so far. It's certainly a learning experience.

In Fresno, the Rock & Worship Roadshow has constantly been one of the largest shows in terms of attendance, which seems to prove there is a market for this kind of music and what you are doing.

I certainly hope so. Places like Fresno and Phoenix and Seattle and Portland and a few other spots on the West Coast that we've done consistently for the last five years are turning into pretty big shows, which is good for us because we want to be able to bring it back.

The reality is that a $10 ticket really doesn't pay for everything. It makes it a little difficult, but we're doing this tour for other reasons, other than simply trying to fill up the building.

You knew you wanted a $10 ticket price. How did that pencil out in the beginning?

It had a lot to do with us as Mercy Me agreeing to do the tour and headline it, and it would kind of be our baby. It was a lot of us calling our friends and convincing them to be on the tour as well. There are a lot of bands that, simply because of logistics, can't make it to some of these places in the country. But they can hop on something like the Roadshow and make it, essentially, coast to coast. Which is one of the things we enjoy about the tour: new bands being able to come out and get exposure in places they normally wouldn't get to come.

How do you determine which bands get to play year to year?

With the exception of us being the only band that has been on it year after year, we try not to repeat people too many times. A lot of it is, funny enough, us sitting around and trying to decide who we want to be on tour with. It's a little selfish because we get to hang out with our friends for a couple of months. A lot of it comes down to who's available.

We're after people who get the vision for the tour. None of the bands there every night are about trying to steal the show. Everyone wants the Roadshow to win. That's great to know for us. We've had a couple of guys like Jeremy Camp and Family Fortune 5 who have done it more than one year and that's been great.

You get to tour with your friends. What's that like compared to a normal tour?

This tour has proven itself to be one of the best times of community for us as artists in general. Normally, we're all doing the same thing, so we don't get the opportunity to spend a lot of quality time together. We're all going different directions. But with a tour like this, we're kind of captured with each other for two or three months. It builds a great sense of community. You really make some lifelong friends, which is unique.